Graduation Afghan

Two Christmas present making journeys ago I created mostly scrap afghans for all of one of my niece's four children. They were fun to make. At Thanksgiving I was working on sewing the ends in for the oldest girl's afghan when another family member noticed the afghan and wondered if she too could have one. After having just finished four large afghans I was a bit burned out and I knew even delaying until this Christmas wouldn't happen. It was a good choice as with weddings and babies it would never have gotten completed in time for Christmas. However delaying until graduation made it possible to complete it as promised.

This is a granny ripple pattern. The one I used for this is Rustic Retreat and it comes from Herrrschner's Worsted 8 Throws Volume 3. Mine is made with a variety of acrylic worsted weight yarns some I had on hand and the crazier colors I bought to liven up the afghan as with the first one it is designed to be bright. This one will be clearly identifiable in a college laundry room.

Barbie Graduation

One of the reasons I got started crocheting many years ago was to make doll clothes for a family member who is graduating from high school this year. Barbie clothes in particular where hard to find in the stores and I struggled with making clothes for her Barbies and then moved on to her 18" dolls which I frankly found easier to work on as at that point thread was not my friend.

The color washed out a bit in the picture but it is navy blue and the yellow represents the honors achievements from her high school. She's graduating from an Agricultural (Aggie) High School as a Vet Tech and will be going on to college for Pre-Vet. I found Barbie Veterinarian Doll and pulled out an out of print Annie's Fashion Doll Club Graduation Gown pattern FC40-03 to make the gown to go over it.

In the past thread has been a really tough challenge, but this spring I have had more success with thread than yarn. I started with a ami graduation owl and just couldn't make the poor thing come together. Barbie was my back up plan. While I was concerned the bent arm might be an issue getting the gown over it, the arm was wide enough there was no problem. The dog was attached to the Vet outfit with a plastic elastic like material, I used that to attach the dog to the gown. I followed the directions for the hat and tassel, merely using multiple colors for the tassel.

Now for my adaptations. The pattern called for a paper diploma. I figured this would rip long before I ever delivered the doll so I chose to crochet one in white thread and tie it with a bow of yellow chained thread. I also created a loop of yellow chains to attach the diploma to Barbie's hand so it would stay on. The honors sash was created by increasing dc to the width wanted and then decreasing back down to a point when the length had been achieved. DH found the parachute cord at Walmart and the tassels for the honors cord at Michaels. Unfortunately, he had to get multiple cards to get two matching colored tassels. Since I wanted the gown to be removable so the Vet outfit could be shown off I didn't sew the doll into the outfit as suggested but used snaps. I also didn't need to make the slip because I bought a dressed Barbie. The gown is see through so if you make it you will want to use the slip, make an outfit, or what I did, buy a clothed doll for the project.